One year ago, 34 people were killed when the Santa Barbara-based commercial dive boat Conception caught fire and sank off the coast of Santa Cruz Island in Santa Barbara County.
Wednesday marks one year since the boat fire tragedy that occurred in the early morning hours on Sept. 2, 2019, as the 75-foot Conception was anchored in Platts Harbor at the end of a three-day Labor Day weekend diving excursion.
One crew member and 33 passengers died in the incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Five crew members who were on the top deck escaped, but everyone sleeping in the below-deck bunks died in the inferno that broke out on the commercial diving vessel shortly after 3 a.m., according to investigators.
During the past year, the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation has continued to conduct the fact-finding phase of the Conception investigation in conjunction with the National Transportation Safety Board, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Kurt Fredrickson said.
However, there haven’t been any public proceedings held because of the ongoing criminal investigation, according to Fredrickson.
Special agents from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to jointly conduct a criminal investigation for potential seaman’s manslaughter, Fredrickson said.
“There are no new details to report at this time beyond what has already been published about the incident,” Fredrickson told Noozhawk in an email Tuesday.
Fredrickson said on Feb. 6 that the Coast Guard published a marine safety information bulletin that encouraged all small passenger vessel operators to voluntarily establish a safety management system and provided links to available resources.
The implementation of a safety management system can assist vessel managers and employees with the identification and mitigation of hazards, Fredrickson said.
“The Coast Guard is working on a daily basis to ensure the proper safety standards and protocols are in place for all small passenger vessels,” Fredrickson said. “The preliminary information lessons learned from the Conception tragedy also prompted the Coast Guard to immediately commence a concentrated inspection campaign on every overnight passenger vessel in the fleet.”
The burned wreckage from the vessel was raised from the ocean floor about 65 feet below and transported by barge to Port Hueneme in Ventura County for investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB this week announced a virtual board meeting in October to consider the agency’s investigation of the fatal fire.
Its five-member board will vote on the findings, probable cause and recommendations, as well as any changes to the draft final report.
The board meeting for the investigation is scheduled to start at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time on Oct. 20. The NTSB will post a link directly to the webcast of the meeting shortly before it begins.
Lawsuits were filed against the vessel owner in the aftermath of the Conception dive boat incident. Santa Barbara-based Truth Aquatics out of Sea Landing operated the vessel at Sea Landing at the Santa Barbara Harbor.
Virtual Commemoration and Plaque Dedication in Santa Barbara
To honor those who died aboard the vessel, the City of Santa Barbara Waterfront Department on Wednesday morning will hold a virtual commemoration and plaque dedication through a webcast at 7 a.m. via GoToWebinar.
The event also will be broadcast on Cox cable channel 18 and streamed live online at SantaBarbaraCA.gov/CityTV.
“All members of the public are welcome to attend,” Santa Barbara administrative analyst Chris Bell said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.